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THE CITY COUNCIL OF BILBAO BOOSTS THE PROTECTION OF ITS HERITAGE WITH THE DEVELOPMENT AND PROCESSING OF THE SPECIAL PLAN FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE URBAN AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE OF THE CITY
- In terms of architectural heritage, Bilbao has 1,235 protected buildings and 34 archaeological protection zones, as well as other cataloged urban elements.
- The tender budget for the contract to develop and process the plan amounts to 244,200 euros.
- The team carrying out the work will consist of at least three professional profiles: an expert in Urban Planning, an expert in Law, and an expert in Archaeology.
- The scope of the plan will cover the entire municipality of Bilbao, with the exception of the Old Town and Bilbao La Vieja, which already have their own specific regulations.
The City Council of Bilbao has initiated the procedures that will allow the hiring of the services for the development and processing of the Special Plan for the Protection of the Urban and Archaeological Heritage of Bilbao. This contract starts now, with the tender of these services, and will end with the Final Approval of the plan, including the relevant citizen participation program.
The tender budget for the contract amounts to 244,200 euros (VAT included). And it is estimated that the document could be ready for Final Approval by 2027, depending on the time it takes for the different sectoral administrations to issue the relevant reports.
The Special Plan for the Protection of the Urban and will be an essential instrument for the protection, management, and enhancement of the city’s important heritage legacy.
Specifically, Bilbao currently has, as stated in its General Urban Development Plan, 1,235 protected buildings or elements. Of these, 44 have the highest level of protection, Special Protection A; 122 are level B; 334 are level C; and 585 correspond to level D (which includes D-1, Cultural Heritage of Local Interest and D-2, Industrial Buildings of Local Interest).
Furthermore, the city has 23 homogeneous urban complexes, 67 urban elements, and 34 archaeological protection zones; as well as 244 protected viewpoints and flight paths and seven cataloged interior spaces.
SCOPE AND CHARACTERISTICS
This action is part of the provisions set out in the current Bilbao Urban Development Plan 2022.
The scope of this Special Plan will cover the entire municipality of Bilbao, with the exception of the Old Town and Bilbao La Vieja, which already have their own regulations.
The Special Plan will start with an analysis of the available documentation to date, the protection established in the Bilbao Urban Development Plan 2022, and its application to subsequently develop a document with the content typical of a plan of this nature (memorandum, rules, plans, sheets for each building or element to be protected, etc.).
In Bilbao, areas like San Ignacio and El Ensanche stand out for their architecture and deserve special attention in terms of recognizing the environmental and landscape value of some of their streets and spaces. El Ensanche, in particular, contains many of the city’s most unique buildings, of various architectural styles and trends. So much so that a large part of the cataloged monumental buildings, urban spaces, and other significant elements of the heritage are found in this area.
Due to this, and as a novelty, the future Special Plan proposes to reflect on the protection of the spaces located in the Ensanche area delimited by streets such as Sabino Arana, Autonomía, Hurtado de Amezaga, Navarra, Muelles de Ripa, Uribitarte, Evaristo Churruca… up to the Plaza del Sagrado Corazón (187 hectares).
In this regard, the City Council aims to better define the rules of this ensemble by paying special attention to the corners of the blocks (corners), which are key to the image of the Ensanche, among other issues.
The goal is to establish general planning guidelines and criteria to address actions in individually unprotected buildings that make up this area (some interspersed among the protected ones) and, where applicable, the future treatment of underground garage entrances, corners, etc.
PHASES AND HUMAN TEAM
The work will begin with a review and analysis of the current catalog and, subsequently, carry out the initial actions of the citizen participation program and prepare the sheets of the assets to be protected listed by districts.
The third phase will consist of drafting the Initial Approval document, which will include the Strategic Environmental Document, and the prior presentation of all this to the Heritage Committee and the Municipal Planning Advisory Council.
This text will be Initially Approved and sent to the sectoral administrations for the preparation of the relevant reports and will be subject to Public Consultation.
After evaluating the allegations and once all sectoral reports have been received, the document will be Finally Approved.
In addition, teams wishing to participate in the tender must have, at a minimum, the following professional profiles (although the addition of other professional profiles, such as an expert in History and/or Citizen Participation, will be scored):
- Expert in Urban Planning.
- Expert in Law.
- Expert in Archaeology.
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION PROGRAM
The Citizen Participation Program linked to the drafting of the Special Plan for the Protection of the Cataloged Urban and Archaeological Heritage includes the involvement of:
- Non-associated citizens.
- Associative fabric.
- Public agents.
- Private agents.
- Experts in the field.
Information and/or training activities are contemplated, such as talks, participatory workshops, personal and group interviews, exhibitions… as well as consultative actions and feedback of results, from the initial phase of reviewing the current catalog to the penultimate phase of receiving allegations.
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